Edelman has promoted Marie Claire Maalouf as EMEA Chief Creative Officer and she will retain her current position as Chief Creative Officer for ME.
In her role as EMEA Chief Creative Officer, Maalouf will lead creative across 13 markets with the mission to create original, impactful, and effective work across Edelman’s specialisms including brand marketing, digital, influencer and entertainment with clients across a breadth of sectors such as financial services, FMCG, travel, health and technology.
She joined Edelman last year as Chief Creative Officer of ME, having spent 17 years at Impact BBDO.
Over the course of her career Maalouf has contributed to impactful and effective campaigns. Including the internationally awarded ‘Despair no more’ campaign for TENA, which provided women in the region a platform to redefine what menopause meant to them and erase the derogatory term of menopause in Arabic that translates literally to ‘Age of Despair’.
Working with Lebanon’s leading newspaper An-Nahar, she also produced ‘The Elections Edition’, an Elections Edition that never went to print. Instead, the paper and ink from the unprinted edition was sent to the government’s printing associates to print ballots. Enough was donated to cover all of Lebanon’s voting population.
Her work has been recognised at all major shows including Cannes Lions, The One Show, Caples, Clio Awards, LIA Awards, Dubai Lynx, D&AD, Epica, ANDYs, Warc and Effies. Last year alone, she helped win more than 100 awards. Including in 2022 winning the only D&AD Yellow Pencil, one of two Cannes Lions Grand Prix and the only Grand Lia in Health won in the region.
As a result, she is ranked the third most awarded Executive Creative Director in the world, number one in the region by The Drum World Creative Rankings and was named one of the top three most outstanding women in Advertising and Media in MENA in 2022. This year Maalouf maintains her spot as the number one ECD in for the region by The Drum.
Maalouf’s announcement follows the departure of Mattias Ronge and Stefan Ronge, Co-Chief Creative Officers, EMEA, who are leaving to pursue new opportunities in the coming months.
Edelman acquired the brother’s Swedish agency Deportivo in 2014, which later that year was awarded Best International Agency of the year by Ad Age.
Over the last decade, Mattias and Stefan have been pivotal in the agency’s transformation, growth, and helping the agency win hundreds of creative awards. Including a PR agency first with a Cannes Grand Prix as lead agency for Asics Eternal Run, and most recently British Agency of the Year for Edelman UK at Eurobest.
Judy John, Global Chief Creative Officer at Edelman, said, “I am excited to have Marie Claire take the reins for creative across EMEA. She has an incredible track record for creating work that has impact and makes a difference. Marie Claire is that rare combination of creative and business leadership. I know she’ll take our work to new heights across the region.”
Marie Claire Maalouf commented, “What truly inspired me and drew me to Edelman is the unique opportunity to build actionable brands through trust. On meeting Judy and all the creative leaders, I quickly understood we all share the same mission. We are united by our passion to solve business challenges as well as powering brands to have a real impact in the world around us. This transformational mindset is why more and more creatives are looking to join Edelman”.
AJ Hesselink, EMEA CEO, said: “We are grateful to Mattias and Stefan and thank them for the significant role they have played in transforming the Edelman business for our people and clients these last 10 years. However, we count ourselves lucky to be surrounded by great talent.
Since joining Edelman Maalouf has had a huge impact on our ability to win new clients and produce important work for our current ones, particularly in the Middle East. We believe she is exactly the right person to lead us forward into the next stage of our creative evolution.”
